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Five of the nine councilors were absent from a meeting where the panel was scheduled to vote on key items, including an item about Uber ride-sharing service, bond issues and a resolution about the Interstate 20/59 bridge project.

Wednesday we asked council president Johnathan Austin to explain his absence, along with four of his fellow councilors.

"(I was) working, and several of my other colleagues were off visiting with family and friends. It is Thanksgiving week, it is a holiday week and want people to have a good time with their family and friends," Austin said.

Austin said he had to work and by the time he arrived at City Hall, the meeting had been canceled.

Several citizens were upset that so many city councilors missed such an important meeting. Many took the day off to come to City Hall to voice their opinions on certain issues.

"Things happen, that's just normal course of business, it is the course of government and we'll have the meeting next week and keep moving forward," Austin said.

Austin said he hopes the citizens will return next Tuesday when they take up the issues that were on the agenda this week.

"We want them to come back next week. We want them to voice their concerns, voice their opinions and hopefully the outcome that they were looking to see on this past Tuesday will be the outcome that they will see on next Tuesday," he said.

The mayor's office told WVTM 13 this is the first time a Birmingham City Council meeting has been canceled the day of a scheduled meeting since April 2009, when the panel was mourning the sudden death of councilor Miriam Witherspoon.

Austin disagreed, saying they call off meetings at the last minute due to a lack of a quorum a few times a year.